A Sonoma County Sheriffs Officer puts up crime scene tape across the driveway at the scene the day after a triple homicide occurred on Ross Station Road in Forestville, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 6. 2013. The fatal shootings of three men whose bodies were found inside a home in rural Northern California stemmed from a botched marijuana deal, authorities said. (AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Scott Manchester)

Todd Klarkowski (Boulder County Sheriff's Office)

A Central City man was arrested in Alabama this week in connection with the slayings of three men -- including one from Boulder -- during a botched marijuana deal earlier this month in Northern California.

According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Mark Cappello, 46, was being held Tuesday in Mobile, Ala., without bail on a fugitive from justice warrant.

Cappello is suspected of killing three men on Feb. 5 inside a home near Forestville, Calif., including 42-year-old Todd Klarkowski, of Boulder. The other victims were Raleigh Butler, 26, of Petaluma, Calif., and Richard Lewin, 46, of Huntington, N.Y.

Mark Cappello

Authorities say the three men had arranged to buy a large amount of marijuana at the home where Butler's mother lived. The bodies were discovered in a bedroom by Butler's brother and his girlfriend, who had become concerned after they could not reach Butler by phone for hours, officials said.

It's unclear how investigators tied Cappello to the murders. On Thursday, Cappello was pulled over for a traffic violation around 10:20 a.m. on eastbound Interstate 10 west of Mobile, Mobile County sheriff's spokeswoman Lori Myles said.

During the traffic stop, Mobile deputies found a search warrant linked to the vehicle, a white 1995 Ford Bronco, stemming from the Sonoma County triple homicide case, Myles said. They alerted Sonoma County sheriff's detectives, who then secured a warrant for Cappello's arrest, Myles said.

Detectives already had linked Cappello to the crime, officials said. Cappello declined to speak with detectives following his arrest. Cappello remained at a jail awaiting extradition.

Court documents show Cappello has no previous arrests in Colorado. Officials declined to comment on whether Cappello and Klarkowski, who both lived in Colorado, knew each other.

Klarkowski was arrested on drug charges in 1999 and served six months in prison, according to Colorado court records. He originally was sentenced to two years of probation, but the probation was revoked.

Boulder County Drug Task Force Cmdr. Tom Sloan said he could not comment on whether Klarkowski was the subject of any investigations in Boulder since the case is still open. California investigators did travel to Boulder to investigate the case, though Sloan could not comment on the details of that visit.

Boulder County Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Ken Kupfner told the Camera earlier this month that he also could not say whether Klarkowski was the subject of an active investigation in Boulder..

The Associated Press and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat contributed to this report.

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